Saturday, 30 April 2016

Letter from Isaac Herzog, leader of the Israeli Labour Party, to Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the UK Labour Party:

Mr. Leader,

I have been appalled and outraged by the recent examples of anti-Semitism by senior Labour Party officials in the United Kingdom. Knowing that the British Labour Party has a proud and distinguished history of fighting racism in every form, has only added to my profound disappointment at recent events, which must act as a red alert and prompt immediate action.

As someone whose father served in the British army and risked his life fighting against Hitler and the Nazis, the views expressed by Ken Livingstone, the former Mayor of London and member of Labour’s national executive, in which he claimed that Hitler “was supporting Zionism before he went mad and ended up killing six million Jews”, were particularly horrific, and unthinkable for a British politician in the 21st century.

That this followed the revelation that another of your MPs, Naz Shah, shared a sentiment that Jews should be forcibly transported from Israel, the land to which so many came to for refuge after having been transported to concentration camps, sickens all those of moral conscience to the core.

Mr Corbyn, part of the story of Israel’s establishment, was the context of centuries of anti-Jewish discrimination and dehumanisation, and the subsequent need for a state from which the Jewish people could defend themselves.

While there are many within the British Labour Party that support Israel, and fight every day against anti-Semitism, and despite the fact that the views recently expressed represent a minority within the British Labour Party, this cannot diminish the importance of dealing with this serious problem.

I would like to take this opportunity, in the week leading up to Holocaust Memorial Day in Israel, to invite you to bring a delegation from the British Labour Party to Israel’s national Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem, in order to witness that the last time the Jews were forcibly “transported”, it was not to Israel, but to their deaths. While Ken Livingstone is surely anti-Semitic beyond hope of redemption, I’m sure there remain many Labour Party activists with a willingness to engage and better understand the scourge of anti-Semitism. By doing this, perhaps we can ensure that the anti-Semitism expressed in recent days is not the example set to British young generation, but rather one of tolerance and acceptance of all people, regardless of faith.

This mornings news continues to be dominated by Labour's crisis over anti-Semitism. Corbyn remains in almost complete denial despite having to agree to the suspension of MP Naz Shah and one of his long term allies Ken Livingstone.

As the Times pointed out in it's editorial yesterday, Corbyn has seemingly never engaged with anyone he doesn't agree with and has surrounded himself with unsavoury types such as Andrew Fisher and Seamus Milne.

Milne is an old fashioned unreconstructed Stalinist who still pursues what use to be called "Third Worldism" and is now known as "anti-imperialism. This nefarious ideological outlook just hates democracy and the West.

Any movement that has potential to undermine the West and it's allies is to be praised. With the rise of Islamism the left has found new allies to achieve our destruction. The focus on the destruction of Israel is THE key element of the left in the UK.

The fact that groups like Hamas (which are NOT liberation organisations but theologically based religious terrorist groups is ignored. In their charter HAMAS make their genocidal views quite clear:

This Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS), clarifies its picture, reveals its identity, outlines its stand, explains its aims, speaks about its hopes, and calls for its support, adoption and joining its ranks. Our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious. It needs all sincere efforts. It is a step that inevitably should be followed by other steps. The Movement is but one squadron that should be supported by more and more squadrons from this vast Arab and Islamic world, until the enemy is vanquished and Allah's victory is realised.

Here is Corbyn's adviser cheering on Hamas despite this.

Is it any wonder Labour (and the bulk of today's left) has an anti-Semitism problem?

Friday, 29 April 2016

Two Turkish journalists have been sentenced to two years in prison for republishing a cover of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo with a cartoon of Muhammad, amid rising concerns about freedom of expression in Turkey.

The court in Istanbul convicted Cumhuriyet newspaper columnists Ceyda Karan and Hikmet Cetinkaya of inciting "hatred and enmity." The pair were however acquitted of the separate charges of "insulting religious values."

The journalists' lawyers immediately appealed the verdict.

The pair went on trial in July 2015 after featuring the cover image of Charlie Hebdo's survivors' edition – which featured an image of a weeping Muhammad – in their columns for the secular, opposition Cumhuriyet newspaper in an act of support for freedom of expression.

The verdict was met with cries of "Allahu Akbar" in court, according to Cumhuriyet reports.

When the edition was published Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu condemned the publication of cartoons of the Muslim prophet as an "open provocation".

The convictions come amid fears of a worsening government crackdown on press freedom in Turkey with an alarming number of journalists facing criminal sanctions or violence and opposition news outlets being officially harassed or obstructed.

Meanwhile, Index on Censorship has warned of a "stark deterioration" of press freedom' across Europe. The group's Mapping Media Freedom project has identified a 30% rise in incidents involving journalists, voicing particular concern about Turkey and Ukraine.

Earlier this week the Turkish Prime Minister sought to calm fears that the country's secular constitution isunder threat after parliamentary speaker Ismail Kahraman, who is overseeing the redrafting the country's constitution, said the Muslim-majority country needed a new "religious constitution".

Thursday, 28 April 2016

Since I'm literally speechless about Ken Livingstone's remarks today and so much already having been written about this fascists disgraceful views I thought to myself (after eating nearly a packet of GoldenOreos in literary frustration) it was time for a musical interlude.

So with the Eurovision song contest coming up on 14th May I though this little number from 1981 would make for good memories of when we Brits could send a decent song to Europe.

This video (featuring the late, great Terry Wogan) shows the very first TV performance of Bucks Fizz singing their winning entry, Making your mind up.

We can't vote for our own entry as usual this year (not that I would anyway, tis complete rubbish I tell ye) but closer to the date I'll put up some of my favourite choices from this years entries.

Wednesday, 27 April 2016

Naz Shah, the woman who replaced the awful George Galloway in the Bradford East constituency has been suspended from the Labour Party after her Face book Post calling for the ethnic cleansing of Israel and the relocation of Jews to the USA.

"Jeremy Corbyn and Naz Shah have mutually agreed that she is administratively suspended from the Labour Party by the general secretary," a Labour spokesperson said. "Pending investigation, she is unable to take part in any party activity and the whip is removed."
This comes after a whole series of cases involving anti-Semitism in the Labour Party. This is probably the most serious so far as it involves a Member of the Parliamentary Labour Party. To their credit she has been suspended pending an enquiry but this issue isn't going to go away. Already the fool Ken Livingstone has been defending her saying her post was not anti-Semitic.

Shah has apologised, but is this just because she got caught?

We'll never know but the relationship between Labour and the Jewish community is at an all-time low.

The discussion on one of the larger Labour supporting Face book groups called simply The Labour Party Forum has been worrying. One comment posted simply said:

I despise anyone who supports Israel. Even if they're bloody Jewish.
I told the poster he was as bad as Shah. Can't print the reply. It wasn't pleasant, but then I expect no better from the so-called anti-Zionist brigade.
And since we've been told anyone who quotes from the groups page will be removed, I've quit before I am pushed.

Monday, 25 April 2016

Despite the efforts of Turkish nationalists and Islamists the genocide committed by the Ottoman Turks towards the end of the First World War has become common knowledge and was commemorated all over the world yesterday.

However this is only part of the story. There is another hidden and tragically less remembered genocide. That of the Assyrians.

Turkey’s embassy in Stockholm asked Sweden’s TV4 television network to pull a documentary on the mass killings of Assyrians by the Ottoman Empire because the film “will fail to serve the principle of objectivity.”Ahead of Sunday evening’s scheduled broadcast of a documentary titled “Seyfo 1915 – The Assyrian Genocide,” TV4 said it received an email from Turkish embassy press officer Arif Gulen, in which he opposes the film’s use of the term “genocide,” which is often used to describe the tragic death of as many as 275,000 Assyrians at the hands of Ottoman Turks during WWI.

The letter, which was subsequently published on TV4’s official website, asks the station to “reconsider your decision on broadcasting of the… documentary film with a balanced and sensible attitude,” while cautioning that “only a competent international tribunal can determine whether a particular event is genocide.”

His statement provoked a sharp reaction from the broadcaster, which denounced Gulen’s attempt to pressure the channel to cancel its broadcast, and aired the documentary.

“We can never accept this. We will protest against any attempt to exert pressure that threatens freedom of expression,” said TV4’s program director, Viveka Hansson, in a statement on the company’s website.
Erdogans Turkey is founded on the blood of innocents. The genocides committed against Armenians, Assyrians and let we also not forget Pontiac Greeks must be remembered because the Turkish state today is committing crimes against it's Kurdish population.

So long as the Islamists remain in denial of their own countries history is it any wonder Holocaust denial is rampant throughput the Muslim world.

Sunday, 24 April 2016

On the way to work on Friday I read the following in The Times (no link£):

The cabinet Office announced that 10 per cent of the senior civil service, roughly 400 officials, would get the cash to reward "outstanding performance" and to help people in specialist roles. The money given to senior officials earning £64,000 to £200,000 comes as teachers and policemen have been capped at 1%

Remember that in 2015 MPs gave themselves a whacking 10% pay rise followed by another 1.3% this year with no changes to their terms and conditions of service. One word..expenses.

Shortly after arriving at work the government announced the Pay Deal for civil servants working in the Department of Work & Pensions. It's not straightforward and is entirely based on staff accepting radical changes to their terms and conditions of service.

There will be new contracts changing the hours worked so Job Centres open earlier and later into the evening and more drastically Saturdays in due course as the DWP tries to implement its new Universal Credit Benefit.

The offer sounds good for some, but is based on their signing up to new anti-social hours of working. Those lower down the pay scale (over half) will benefit over the next four years, but those who have been around for years and are on or near the max of their pay scale will just get 1% a year.

Although signing up to the new contract is "voluntary" for those on old contracts, there is a penalty. If a member of staff refuses the "award" will reduce to 0.25%.

Of course there are other factors. Many of those at the higher end of the pay scales are (like me) approaching retirement so the Department has no incentive to pay more, but if refused then these loyal, long standing members of staff will have their pensions affected.

In other words pure bloody blackmail.

Of course this also comes at a time when the junior doctors have been fighting their new contracts. Jeremy Hunt (no spoonerisms please) hasn't listened to them despite a huge amount of public support and that just will not be there for civil servants, let alone Job Centre staff.

And with the largest of the unions (having shrunk in size and influence under it's far-left Socialist Party dominated leadership) having already voting to recommend the pay deal by 18 to 9 at their recent group executive committee, the possibility of any campaign against aspects of this deal is already lost.

Of course there are difficult problems for the unions to consider. Pay strikes are notoriously difficult to motivate, in the main due to the simple fact that if it lasts more than a couple of days or so most of the financial gains will be lost by those taking part.

The divisive nature of the offer will mean a general acceptance by those who stand to gain from the financial side but how they will react to the change of hours doing what is a very stressful and difficult job on the front line of a benefits office is more difficult to judge.

No doubt these arrangements may suit many, making this dreadful deal even more difficult to oppose.

In these circumstances I find my heart saying vote no, but my head says yes. Not an ideal way of looking at things but realism it has to be at the end of the day. But if management are reading this don't expect us to be happy about this deal.

Conditions in Job Centres are difficult enough with all the pressure put on less staff to do more and be expected to have knowledge of all benefits without proper training.This deal in no way makes up for the way we have been treated.

Morale is at an all-time low and will only get worse.

One things for certain we are not "all in this together" as so many millionaire government politicians try to tell us. They simply have no idea.

And just which Minister was late for a Cabinet meeting because he "wasn't used to working on a Saturday"? Answers on a postcard to the Cabinet Office.

The Prospect unions DWP Committee meets on May 4th to discuss the forthcoming ballot. I will be casting a vote, let me know what you think.

Saturday, 23 April 2016

The election of a woman who blocked motions condemning ISIS as "Islamophobia" and thinks "Zionists" (read Jews) control the media and rants about there being too many Jews in Birmingham University was bound to cause a backlash

And it's started.

The Times (no link£) reports:

Students at the University of Oxford declared yesterday that they would seek to disaffiliate from the National Union of Students (NUS), saying it no longer spoke for the after Malia Bouattia was appointed (President) on Wednesday"...A group of students at the University of Cambridge will also request a referendum on severing ties ties with the NUS and said it was in touch with students planning disaffiliation campaigns at the universities of Durham, Edinburgh, York Westminster, Aberystwyth and London South Bank, as well as at the London School of Economics and Kings College London,

It seems the comrades have finally pushed students to far with their self serving extremism and the future of NUS originally founded in 1922 has been brought into question by the antics of the political bigots who dominate the unions conferences and executive.

Cambridge student Jack May said he was leading a campaign to withdraw his student union from the NUS as a result of Bouattia’s rhetoric.

He said: “The election of Malia as NUS President is a horrifying message to Jewish students in the UK. Attention has been repeatedly drawn to her anti-Semitic comments.

“Unfortunately, Malia’s election is just the latest event in a tide of anti-Semitism sweeping UK universities.”...

.... events in Brighton have emboldened those campaigning for Exeter to disaffiliate.

Thomas Collins, an economics and politics student at Exeter, told The Huffington Post UK: “The conference has energised the existing group of individuals who were disillusioned with the NUS.

“Malia’s election has bought more individuals to the leave campaign in the NUS, quite a few have switched from stay to leave since our referendum on the NUS in 2014, it will be close this time around.”

As many as 40 universities are expected to face similar calls to cut ties with NUS, according to the campaign group NUSceptics.

Despite denials from the so-called anti-Zionist brigade their actions are swelling anti-Semitism and it is all to easy for the bigots to conflate the two.

Bouattias' attitudes to "Zionist" controlled media and the number of Jews in Birmingham expose the sinister side of this movement.

Wednesday, 20 April 2016

The election of a woman who was "disturbed" by the existence of a "large Jewish Society" in Birmingham University, thinks "Zionists" are responsible for British Government policy and thinks "Zionists" control our media was elected President of the National Union of Students at their Annual Conference today.

Just as disturbing was the sight of student activists trying to stop Holocaust Commemoration Day as apparently it isn't "inclusive enough" and was putting "one group of people over others".

Those people. Not "Zionists", but Jews. Murdered in their millions by the Nazi's.

The real reason.

It's Palestine innit.

Safe spaces for all, unless you happen to be Jewish.

The left and the anti-imperialist brigade (just watch the video at the end of this post) have taken their hate campaign to the extreme.

The new President of the politically degenerated NUS also refused to condemn ISIS on the grounds it was "Islamophobic".

Yes dear tell that to the thousands of Yazadi's, Christians and other Muslims who have been murdered raped and enslaved by the criminals known as ISIS.

If I sound patronising it's because I am appalled by Malia Bouattia and her supporters for their bigoted ignorance.

The National Union of Students is no longer fit for purpose. It's time to end their closed shop. The majority of students want to study and have a good time so a tiny minority of navel gazing morons have taken over the organisation.

I hope that some student unions choose to disaffiliate and consider an alternative representative body.

Meanwhile hear a successor to Oswald Mosley tell us about the Jews Zionists......

Monday, 18 April 2016

Phil Collins is releasing all his eight studio albums that are identical to the originals with one small exception. The photos are updated to show him as he is now; aged 65 with less hair.

Good for him.

Having been a Genesis Fan since my school days his solo work is well worth a listen and it's good to see Phil Collins is ageing gracefully instead of all this ridiculous botox some other artists rely on.

Sunday, 17 April 2016

Bangladesh has come under scrutiny recently due to the brutal murders of secularist and atheist bloggers recently. The actions of the Islamist Nazi's have shocked the world so you would expect their Prime Minister (a woman) to be somewhat concerned about the image these vile acts have made of her country, let alone the criminality of such behaviour but no Sheik Hasina has this to say:

"If someone wants to kill someone because of what the latter wrote the government will do nothing to stop it"

The premier also said, “Recently it has become a fashion to call someone a freethinker who says nasty things about religion. I do not see any free thinking here. All I see is filth.”

The fact her government is desperately clinging to power has nothing to do with their appeasement of the Clerical fascists who literally get away with murder in her country.

Is it any wonder that others decide to leave what they describe as a "Mafia cult of death".

Michael Nugent reports of the decision by a Bengali Lawyer to leave Islam:

Bengali lawyer and scholar Mufassil Islam has left Islam, courageously describing his former religion as a mafia cult of death. This is significant, as Mufassil is well-versed in Islam and he used to actively defend it.

Saturday, 16 April 2016

The media has been full of talk about an unnamed celebrity couple who apparently have been in some kind of sexual tryst and have taken out an injunction to prevent the publication of their names. Trouble is it only covers England and Wales, so the rest of the world including Scotland and Ireland know who these people are.

The Times reported today (no link£) that this injunction may be lifted:

Lord Justice Jackson added that those interested in the identities of the people protected "already know" who they are.The judge, with two other Court of Appeal judges, will rule on Monday on whether to left the injunction because of the widespread publicity of the case in the past week, including in the US, in Scotland and on social media.

As Lord Justice Jackson commented:

The question is: can the injunction stand in the new world?

Quite. I'm not particularly interested (though that may change depending who the celebrities are) but the law seems ridiculous if it cannot be enforced. The whole world knows except those of us who live in jolly old England & Wales.

At most this will become a headline in the tabloids and food for gossip down the pub, and then be forgotten. The world will move on.

Of more concern is the self imposed censorship surrounding Tory Minister John Whittingdale and his relationship with a young lady who turned out to be some kind of "escort" or dominatrix. Now the problem is Mr Whittingdale also happens to be the Minister responsible for the press and one cannot help but feel the papers held back out of fear. After all there has been much pressure to regulate the press over the last couple of years.

Being single who Whittingdale dates is his own affair, but the fact that his girlfriends profession could (and did) cause him (and the government) embarrassment could have led to blackmail and scandal. We've had a lot of these over the years with the Profumo affair being the most fans.

In this case public exposure is probably in the public interest and more so since it took quite an effort by Private Eye and others to bring this into the open. The question arising from this case is how much else do the press know that they are not telling us?

The celebrities claim they are "protecting their children". More likely they are protecting their hard won public image as family friendly. They got caught doing something embarrassing. Tough but their decision to go for an injunction has probably prolonged the story (it's bee around since January) and there will now be much more public interest than before.

But frankly it's tough. You put yourself in the public eye, you take the good with the bad.

The difficulty faced between private and public is obvious in the age of Twitter, Face book and the like, but it does have an advantage.

Politicians can still be exposed and keeping the web free for comment and dissemination of information is a priority. The politicians haven't quite learned to control it.

Friday, 15 April 2016

The recent Channel 4 programme by Trevor Phillips on the attitudes of the "Muslim community" has confirmed what a lot of us have been saying for years. A substantial, if not the majority of the Muslim population is not integrating into British society.

As for their (for want of a better word like reactionary) "conservative" views on everything from Gay Rights to democracy nothing surprises me.

At the same time there has been a propensity to pussyfoot around the issues involved and the question of Islams place in our society for far too long. Cries of "Islamophobia" have been raised every single time an issue has arise,

So many people are or have been frightened to confront problems with Muslims/Islam because of their fear of being called racist (even though Islam is not a race, it's a theology, and a very backward one) that issues have failed to be addressed.

The most obvious example was the sexual abuse and rape of young girls in Rotherham by organised gangs of Asian men. Those brave individuals who tried doing something about it were vilified and witch-hunted until the crimes finally came to light and the perpetrators started going to prison.

A very sad state of affairs indeed.

Now no one is suggesting for a minute that every Muslim man is a child abuser and it goes without saying that the majority of paedophiles in the UK are white. However a desire to "not rock the boat" kept a a huge number of girls prisoners of their abusers.

An extreme example, but the attitudes of even the so-called "moderate" Muslims leave a lot to desired.

Aside from the minority who force their women to fully covered (though this group seems to be growing) the attitudes of large sections Muslims are out of touch with the general population. Prejudice against gays is high, even to the extent that half did not think it was right for a gay person to be a teacher.

Nearly a quarter wanted Sharia Law introduced.

And an example of Sharia was brought to my attention this week in Indonesia where fundamentalists have been both burning and closing down churches, TheIndependentreports:

An elderly Christian woman has been caned in Indonesia, the first time a Sharia law punishment has been meted out to a non-Muslim.

The 60-year-old, who was convicted of selling alcohol, was whipped nearly 30 times with a rattan cane, before a crowd of hundreds, in Aceh province on Tuesday, according to reports....

Under Aceh's strict Islamic code, introduced after it was granted special autonomy from Jakarta in 2001, corporal punishment is imposed on adulterers, gays, drinkers and even those who speak to unmarried members of the opposite.

Sheer medieval barbarism. No other word for it.

Closer to home, Air Stewardesses for Air France went on strike over being told to wear head coverings on flights to Tehran. Capitulation to Islamic practises.

Imagine if this were the other round.

There would be hell to play.

It's time to have that discussion which liberals and lefties have avoided, somewhat deliberately in the latters case as the far-left sees Muslims as a pawn it can use in it's own agenda against western democracy.

Most people have no problems with those who have different or even no religion. There are large communities of Hindus, Sikhs and Jews in this country, none of which cause the furore or concern that Islam does. The time has come to confront the issue of integration and it starts with the law.

There can only be one law in this country.

It is unacceptable that nay community tries to live separately denyng others the rights the rest of us enjoy. There can be no Sharia of any form in the UK. If as a Muslim you cannot accept this perhaps the you should reconsider your choice in living in a democratic inclusive society like Britain's. This is not and never will be an Islamic state. Women, gays, atheists and others that are not of your faith have rights.

Equal rights.

Worship who you please but you do not get to impose by bullying or force your faith on others even within your own "community".

There can be no Islamic state within the state.

It's time to have that discussion.

And time to face up to the realities of even so-called "moderate" Islam. This is the twenty-first century. The god delusion can no longer have legal sway over peoples lives.

Wednesday, 13 April 2016

A recent event in Indiana University highlighted what is becoming a major problem with the growth of the censorious and safe space types in education. Townhall.com reported:

Students at Indiana University in Bloomington were frightened on Monday night amid reports that a member of the KKK, armed with a whip, was walking around campus.

Many took to social media to warn others about the presence of the KKK on campus, and one R.A. sent out a warning to his residents to not leave the dorm and to please be careful.

As it turns out, the "Klansman" was actually Fr. Jude McPeak, O.P., a Dominican Friar and an Associate Pastor/Campus Minister at IU's St. Paul Catholic Center. And definitely, definitely, not a member of the KKK.

Dominican brothers wear a habit consisting of a tunic, scapular, capuce, cappa, leather belt, and Rosary. Many Dominicans choose to carry a longer Rosary that hangs down the length of one's leg--and I guess could resemble a whip, if a person had never seen a whip or a rosary before.

Easy mistake to make...err no it isn't really.

So frightened have today's students become of anything that might unsettle their privileged lives that they seek to ban, to censor, to remove anything that does not fit in with their fragile egotistic outlook on the world, that actually confronting their imagined enemies doesn't even occur to them Best avoid is their strategy.

In my day as a student (to use an equivalent scenario), if someone had raised an alarm about the National Front being on campus we'd have gone and investigated, organised and driven the enemy off.

If it was a Monk we might have taken him down the bar.

Ironically Westminster University (formerly known as the Polytechnic of Central London in my day) does not have a student union bar since the Islamic Society took over the Student Union and closed it on "financial grounds" as it was losing money.

A major social asset lost to ideological chicanery. It never turned a profit, that wasn't the point!

And that is the worry.

Tolerance, debate and the free exchange of ideas is central to the view of the world that I grew up in. Oh I'm not saying everything was perfect back in those days, but certainly student activists weren't the wimps we have come to ridicule today.

Education is so central to making the world a better place, and sometimes, no all the time one has to consider the views, opinions and writings of those with whom we disagree no matter how distasteful we might find them.

And all is open to debate whether the adherents of any ideology or theology like it. No ideas are sacrosanct and beyond criticism. Only the wilfully ignorant would deny this with those who blindly follow inherited thought.

This includes religion.

Religion is of course one of the earliest forms of social control, something noted over 2,000 years ago by writers and philosophers such as Democritus (cc 460 to 380 BC) who put forward the notion:

"that humans originally lived like animals; then they formed communities to prevent attacks from other beasts; that led to communication and language; then clothing and agriculture; then shelter and fire. Civilisation....developed in response to dire need. Religion was part of this civilising process. Early humans noted the turning of the seasons (and)..posited an an agent behind these occurrences and worshipped it" (Battling the Gods /Tim Whitmarsh)

In other words an early exposition of atheism as the basis of religion is based on an error of false attribution to "God" of a natural phenomenon.

Makes perfect sense but likely to get you imprisoned or put to death in a whole swathe of countries across the world.

Yet we can make such statements with impunity (at least from the state, one cannot preclude the actions of fanatics) in this country.

According to the "safe spaces" theory this is "offencive" to (insert oppressed minority group of your choice here whether made up or not) and must not be allowed.

Such movements will take the world backwards to ignorance and superstition.

Those that try to limit your ability to freely discuss matters of either material existence or more spiritual matters are the blinkered bigots from the past returning to the modern world.

Tuesday, 12 April 2016

One of my all-time favourite records is Led Zeppelin's fourth album which contains one of the most beautiful numbers ever written, Stairway to Heaven. Imagine my surprise after all these years to hear on the news this morning that the writers of the song, Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have been sued for plagiarism.

Now I freely admit to never having heard of Spirit and until this evening have never listened to their track Taurus. So who is suing and why now?

The lawsuit has not been launched by the guitarist and composer Randy Wolfe (who tragically drowned in 1997) but his estates Trustee, Michael Skidmore.

This isn't the first time Led Zeppelin have faced controversy over their material, having been previously been criticised for not acknowledging that one of their more popular tracks Dazed and Confused was originally written and performed by Jake Holmes on his 1967 album The Above Ground Sound.

Of course Wolfe never sued Led Zeppelin during his lifetime despite being bitter telling the now defunct Listener magazine that:

“The guys made millions of bucks on it and never said ‘Thank You’, never said ‘Can we pay you some money for it?’” he said. “It’s a sore point with me. Maybe someday their conscience will make them do something about it.”

There are chords that sound similar in the earlier song, but one has to wonder why the lawsuit has been launched now.

The estates manager is obviously just after cash ......

Still here's the two tracks in their full original album form to listen to so you can make your mind up.

Saturday, 9 April 2016

One of the problems of setting up a blog is ensuring that posts are regular, preferably daily in order to attract and maintain a readership which after all is the reason we all set up blogs in the first place. There is of course a downside to this, especially if like me, you have a full time job and end up cream-crackered at the end of the day.

Most of the time blogging is fulfilling as I get to address matters that concern me and have learnt that I can't comment on everything so have deliberately focused Howie's Corner on a number of "key" issues. Occasionally there are guest posts, cross-posts and I like to move away from politics and publish "Musical", Comedy" and "Holiday" interludes just for fun.

Other bloggers like Jim Denham of Shiraz Socialist and Phil BC of All that is Solid also take breaks from the tiring and somewhat rarefied world of politics with Jazz and Dance music respectively. Phil also likes writing about his hobby of computer games. As for me I (eventually) set up a separate blog for my own hobby in the form of Howie's World of Comics.

Like most bloggers I also spend time on Face book which as you gain more contacts and join more groups becomes quite absorbing. And distracting.

I noticed Phil BC make an announcement that his own posts may be more infrequent not just due to work but because he noticed that there were growing piles of books and movies to be read and watched. Something I have thought about for a while.

My blog has clearly changed direction since it was started including three different layouts. Now is the time for me to have a serious rethink about the future direction I will be taking. For the immediate future there will be no changes but in the long term I want to branch out a bit more and perhaps post slightly less in order to improve the quality of material that appears here. I admit to being rushed at times and that does show.

Despite readership having gone down from last year, there are still more than enough of you who read what I have to say or post here to make this blog worthwhile continuing. I'm not going away.

However for some reason with the local/Mayor elections coming up and shortly after, the referendum on Europe the civil service has really emphasised the practice of "Purdah" which means I will not be covering either event during the period this is in force.

That in itself means I will have to think about "replacement" issues to blog about. It can't all be about atheism, secularism and religious extremism so I'll have to have a serious think over the next couple of weeks or so.

I would like to thank all of you whether regular or occasional readers for joining me on my journey through the world of politics we have to put up with.

I will continue to stand against political and religious extremism in all its forms and speak out in favour of free speech and human rights.

Friday, 8 April 2016

Belief in some kind of "god" or "gods" goes back far beyond recorded history. It seems there is a need for an external influence inherent in mankind or at the very least a form of social control easily accepted by the "masses". However such beliefs have always been challenged by atheists though many seem to think such rejectionism is new in the modern world. It isn't, but the history of disbelief has long been ignored.

That has now been partially rectified by the publication of a new book, Battling The Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World by Tim Whitmarsh (Faber) which uses evidence from the Greeks and Romans to explore scepticism in earlier times.

The battle against superstition has been going on since, well forever it would seem.

Except these days the need to "believe" has taken a new direction and I'm not talking about the kind of fundamentalism usually referred to on this blog.

We're talking aliens!

Now before anyone thinks I've lost the plot I should make it clear that in my view the possibility of life elsewhere in the vast universe we live in is highly probable in both more primitive and advanced forms. There is (as yet) no evidence to verify this. It is a supposition. I actually could be wrong,. There may not be life elsewhere at all, I just find that unlikely.

However there is no actual evidence to support my "belief" or perhaps hope being a big science fiction fan. Yet there others who are not only certain of this, but actually believe in all sorts of theories from UFOs to alien interference in ancient civilisations. These actions being mistaken for that of gods. A theory I first came across when I was around 15 and read Eric Von Danekin's Chariot of the Gods.

Today such theories are propagated across the Internet with great abandon. Many mixing fact with "fiction" and simply extrapolating from their "beleif" that aliens must have helped early amn because so many ancient structures are impossible to build.

One such video is shown below. Chinese Pyramids, tombs of long dead Chinese Kings and Emperors. They exist but are a mystery. Just listen to how the narrator casually introduces the concept of aliens. No evidence, just his predisposed belief.

There are many mysteries in the world around us, some man-made others not. But just because we have no explanation does not denote the existence of either alien or god for that matter. It just "is" and we don't know the answer.

That there are technologies and knowledge lost to mankind probably goes without question but why aliens should be responsible is rather fanciful. Much is made of weird drawings and artifacts depicting what they assume are spaceships or advanced technology. Maybe the artists responsible simply had vivid imaginations.

Then there's all the other wacky theories. The Hollow Earth", Nazi flying saucers in the Antarctic. A lot of people make a living out of this stuff. It's all bunkum of course, but it does make for good movies. Here's the trailer to a great Finnish film, Iron Sky.

Thursday, 7 April 2016

Now is the time to insult the extremism of Islamism, while we still can.

When religionists act like this, they need to be stamped down. This horrific killing of one brave individual is an act of terrorism. Muslim extremists have learned since November 2, 2004 - when Mohamed Bouyeri slaughtered film-maker Theo van Gogh in an Amsterdam street - that you only need to slaughter one person and a whole society loses its ability to express itself freely.

After the murder in 1991 of Hitoshi Igorishi, Japanese translator of Satanic Verses, who was stabbed in the face and arms in Japan, the message sent was clear. Insult Islam at one's peril. Eight days earlier, the Italian translator had been stabbed but survived. Other people connected to publication of Rushdie's book were harmed but survived.

Four years ago Rushdie said that:

"A book which was critical of Islam would be difficult to be published now.... The only way of living in a free society is to feel that you have the right to say and do stuff..... If you look at the way in which free expression is being attacked by religious extremism, the things of which these people are accused is always the same - it's blasphemy, heresy, insult, offence - it's this medieval vocabulary.We're in a difficult place because there's a lot of fear and nervousness around."http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19600879

Last week Rizz, editor of Charlie Hebdo, was castigated for talking of the same climate of fear and nervousness created by the extremists of Islam. His critics were Western liberals who try to show how they are sticking up for Muslims - when they are doing no such thing. They are trying to close down free speech, and appropriating the perceived "feelings" of Muslims as an excuse.

We are living in a supine culture where successive whines of outrage over expressions of opinion about a religious ideology are able to censor any criticism of this ideology. And meanwhile Islam continues to show no respect for those outside of its sphere of control.

The murderer of Glaswegian Asad Shah, an Ahmadi Muslim who dared to wish Christians a "Happy Easter," issued this statement yesterday:

'"This all happened for one reason and no other issues and no other intentions. Asad Shah disrespected the messenger of Islam the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Mr Shah claimed to be a Prophet.

"When 1400 years ago the Prophet of Islam Muhammad peace be upon him has clearly said that 'I am the final messenger of Allah there is no more prophets or messengers from God Allah after me. I am leaving you the final Quran. There is no changes. It is the final book of Allah and this is the final completion of Islam. There is no more changes to it and no one has the right to claim to be a Prophet or to change the Quran or change Islam.'

"It is mentioned in the Quran that there is no doubt in this book no one has the right to disrespect the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and no one has the right to disrespect the Prophet of Islam Muhammad Peace be upon him. If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world. I wish to make it clear that the incident was nothing at all to do with Christianity or any other religious beliefs even although I am a follower of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him I also love and respect Jesus Christ."

Who is brave enough to stand up and say anything critical of Islam? If we do not stand up now to denounce the intolerance of Islamists and the cowardice of the "bien-pensants" of the media, we will soon enter an era when we will never again have genuine freedom of speech.

Back in February 2006, when Anjem Choudary organised an illegal demonstrations where his followers carried placards stating "Behead those who insult Islam," "Europe you will pay, 9/11 is on its way" and other provocative threats, his website carried the following:

"Kill those who insult the Prophet Muhammad (saw)

The kuffar in their sustained crusade against Islam and Muslims have yet again displayed their hatred towards us this time by attacking the honour of our beloved Messenger Muhammad (saw). In September 2005 the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten published 10 cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad (saw) which were later republished by a Norwegian paper Magazinet. Until now both governments have refused to denounce the drawings and to condemn the publication of them.

Denmark has a history of blasphemy against Islam, only in August did radio presenter Kaj Wilhelmsen say that all fanatical Muslims should be exterminated and the rest should be kicked out of Europe. Last year the queen of Denmark aired her disapproval of Islam and for those ‘whom religion is their entire life’. Prior to this the Danish government issued the right to dismiss a Muslim woman from working in a supermarket for wearing the hijab. Furthermore Denmark is an ally of the war in Iraq with 500 troops stationed in the South and 10 from Norway showing their approval and participation of the war.

Both governments claim that one of their underlying principles is the freedom of speech and that everyone is free to speak their mind and to voice their opinions openly. They claim that the publication of these cartoons is a mere expression of ones opinions falling within the framework of the law. This is the same freedom of expression that quite readily prevents the propagation of Islam and support of the mujahideen using it as and when it suits them.

This should come as no surprise to the Muslims because this is the exact and true nature of the kuffar that Allah (swt) has informed us of in the Quran. The kuffar will never have respect for our deen, they will never honour it and will always seek to ridicule and disparage it. At every opportunity they will try to attack and belittle it whilst concealing the greater hatred they have for it in their hearts. This is also evident throughout the history of Islam where the kuffar carried out similar acts to try and defame Islam. Allah (swt) tells us that; verily, the Kaafireen [disbelievers] are ever unto you your open enemies. [4:101]

At the time of the Messenger Muhammad (saw) there were individuals like these who dishonoured and insulted him upon whom the Islamic judgement was executed. Such people were not tolerated in the past and throughout the history of Islam were dealt with according to the Shariah. Ka’ab ibn Ashraf was assassinated by Muhammad ibn Maslamah for harming the Messenger Muhammad (saw) by his words, Abu Raafi’ was killed by Abu Ateeq as the Messenger ordered in the most evil of ways for swearing at the prophet, Khalid bin Sufyaan was killed by Abdullah bin Anees who cut off his head and brought it to the prophet for harming the Messenger Muhammad (saw) by his insults, Al-Asmaa bintu Marwaan was killed by Umayr bin Adi’ al-Khatmi, a blind man, for writing poetry against the prophet and insulting him in it, Al-Aswad al-Ansi was killed by Fairuz al-Daylami and his family for insulting the Messenger Muhammad (saw) and claiming to be a prophet himself. This is the judgement of Islam upon those who violate, dishonour and insult the Messenger Muhammad (saw).

Shortly after these incidents the people began to realise that insulting the Messenger of Allah (saw) was not something to be taken lightly and that by doing so would mean that you would be killed for it, a concept that many have seem to forgotten today.

The insulting of the Messenger Muhammad (saw) is something that the Muslims cannot and will not tolerate and the punishment in Islam for the one who does so is death. This is the sunnah of the prophet and the verdict of Islam upon such people, one that any Muslim is able execute. The response of the Muslims all over the world shows us the inability to deal with such people, the kuffar are attacking our Messenger and are allowed to get away with it whilst the Muslims have no power to do anything about it. The leaders of the Muslim world have no care for the deen of Islam as they are busy cementing their seats content with their power and wealth. Where are the Muhammad ibn Maslamah’s of our ummah who will defend the honour of our beloved Messenger and rise the banner of Tawheed high?

But if they violate their oaths after their covenant, and attack your religion with disapproval and criticism then fight (you) the leaders of disbelief - for surely their oaths are nothing to them - so that they may stop (evil actions). {9:12}"
Choudary and his friends should have been dealt with then. They were not and they helped to influence those who went on to join ISIS and murder innocent people.

There is a malevolence that is at the heart of literalist, Salafist Islam, that lacks humanity and compassion. If we allow our lives, our whole societies, to be governed by the threats and intimidation of a handful of its most extremist followers, then Western democracy and secular societies will be brought to their knees. One of the main principles of a democracy is to have freedom of speech. When that goes, what remains?

When murderous religious ideologues can openly write threats against the lives of dissenters and yet walk free, but people are arrested by police for Tweets, we are reaching a turning point in our culture's history. If things do not change, then from now on, we will tell ourselves that we are free, but in practice, we will have no freedom to express ourselves. And the values of the Enlightenment, which came into being to challenge the oppressive tyranny of organised religion, will fade away as if they never existed.

Tuesday, 5 April 2016

The world of politics faced a huge shake-up when the Labour Party opened it's door to the "Three pounders" during it's leadership election. The misguided MP's who nominated Jeremy Corbyn to "allow" for a a different point of view debated found themselves besieged by thousands of left-wingers coming our of the woodwork, joining up and for the first time allowing the really hard-left take over the party.

Membership of the Labour Party soared. Almost the entire far left sans the remains of Militant & the Socialist Workers Party joined up. Ken Loache's short-lived Left Unity project that had previously been the focus of the comrades attention collapsed.

And it is the collapse of Left Unity that in small part provides a glimpse of the process that appears to be taking place on the ground inside the Labour Party. Left Unity was launched with the group attracting thousands of "likes" on Face book, but when established membership barely reached 2,000 and attendance at conferences despite their streaming live on the Internet got smaller and smaller as time went by and the factions competed with each other over minutiae that most "normal" people frankly just couldn't be arsed with.

Today it seems to have disappeared, even the uber-sectarian Weekly Worker doesn't take any notice any more. Those comrades have buggered off to support the Labour Party Marxists, a front for the tiny Communist Party (CPGB) sect that had already been established in Labour. Well at least in Hammersmith, that well known centre of revolution just down the road.

Six months down the road a question was raised on one of the unofficial Labour supporting groups on Face book about the levels of actual participation of the new intake. Now from anecdotal evidence from those I know who are long term activists in the Labour Party there hasn't been much of a showing of the new members and those that have are not the most willing to get involved in the nitty gritty of the real hard work that has to be carried out by any party, let alone Labour if it is to win elections.

Momentum made a big fan-fare about sending it's supporters to a by-election, but the general feedback is that the new breed are not turning up to meetings or leafleting and whilst it's easy to send in three quid whilst surfing the Internet this is not turning into the level of activity that Momentum had hoped for.

Sure they've got every tiny tin pot Trot outfit on their side, but on the whole their meetings are dominated by all the tired old types that have always infested such events. The Times reported the presence of one Chris Ford, an individual who in one past incarnation had led a split in the anarcho-syndicalist trade union the International Workers of the World, the IWW or "wobblies" as they commonly referred to. Ford set up his own IWW(GB) union with himself as head honcho which seems to have disappeared.

On to new climes, just like so many.

Then we've seen the Gerry Downing affair hit the headlines and all sorts of anti-Zionist behaviour interpreted by many as anti-Semitism discredit not just the left, but embarrass the Labour Party. The latest instance was reported by the Jewish Chronicle:

A veteran Jewish Labour MP has been targeted by activists who are “hell-bent” on attacking her at meetings of her constituency party.

The orchestrated campaign against Louise Ellman, MP for Liverpool Riverside, from within her own local branch has created an “intimidating and hostile” atmosphere for Jewish members, a councillor said this week.

The verbal attacks have taken place during the past two months at constituency meetings at which Mrs Ellman was present.

A small group of hard-left activists have attended the sessions to attack her, repeatedly asking questions about her position on Israel.

The JC understands that on at least three occasions, antisemitic remarks were made.

But most importantly the difficulties being experienced by the hard-left in taking control of Labour is down to the fact that "keyboard activism" (i.e. "likes" and £3 subs) are not substitutes for real, committed members. In the long term, these individuals are likely to remain not only "inactive" but slowly drift away.

The problem for their opponents (and for the Party itself) is that thousands of "ordinary" and more moderate members have left. More are getting disillusioned every day as the party's civil war.

The Labour Party is not pushing ahead, despite the Tories obvious unpopularity, internal strife and the sheer incompetence of Osbourne's grossly unfair budget.

Scotland remains with the SNP, with Labour trailing badly the future remains bleak when the party really should be making ground in the face of the Tory crisis.

It isn't because the left is blinkered and only interested in taking control of Labour regardless of the consequences. Ideology first. The workers will flock to the new cause they think and yet the indications are that Corbyn has only galvanised already existing support rather than gaining ground from those who actually need to be won over to win an election.

The reason? Their inability to recognise the reality of politics. The need for a broad church, negotiation and compromise.

The Corbyn "bubble" is about to burst. The worry is whether it will be too late to prevent exactly what the rest of us fear from another Tory government.

The mother-of-seven from Walthamstow told the Standard how after speaking at one local school a child realised she had undergone FGM and confided in a teacher. “It broke my heart into a million pieces,” she said. “It takes real courage to stand up at such a young age and seek help, especially against the wishes of your family.”

But the Somalian’s outspoken approach and refusal to sugar-coat the topic with young children has made her the target of attacks.

She said: “I had a scary confrontation on the 257 bus in Walthamstow. A woman with a full niqab recognised me and ran at me screaming my name and snarling, ‘You came to my child’s school, you told her FGM was abuse.’

“I could only see her eyes but they were full of rage. She was so angry she had to be dragged off the bus, but I was jumping for joy inside because that meant a child had confronted their parent.”

A recent City University London and Equality Now study shows that FGM has been carried out on 137,000 women and girls living in England and Wales but Mrs Wardere believes these figures will sky-rocket once a full NHS survey comes out next year.

In the meantime her new book Cut, One Woman's Fight Against FGM in Britain Today is released on Thursday.

Sunday, 3 April 2016

Civil servants face yet another year of pay restraint as the Treasury limits this years award to 1%. That is unless you are in the DWP where the offer is 4%. Generous you might think but there are strings attached.

Negotiations continue between the unions and the Department on this years pay rise which will be linked to major changes in conditions of service. The deal is agree to work weekends and evenings and you'll get the higher rise. Reject it and it's back to 1%.

The DWP is heading towards longer opening hours as it gears up for the full introduction of the new Universal Credit system which means some claimants will not be able to attend Job Centres in normal working hours as benefits are combined into one and will include many who work.

According to Management there will be "safeguards" in place to ensure that no one is asked to work more than one weekend and one evening in four. There remains no indication of whether there is any kind of "opt out" for individual members of staff.

At the same time the Cabinet Office is pushing for harsher treatment of those who fall in the "must improve" marking performance in their annual reports or face possible dismissal.

Given there is a steer to ensure that 10% of staff are in this category regardless of any other consideration shows a growing threat to union members across the Department.

Only 50% of the report marking is actually down to "performance", the other 50% is about "behaviours". In practice this is to ensure that staff fall into line without too much questioning.

The road to "Stepford" conformity.

At the same time Redundancy terms are being slashed yet again. Prospect states:

“Members voted in 2010 to accept an agreement hammered out with Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude at the height of the financial crisis. Maude himself said: ‘I believe we now have a scheme which is fair, protects those who need the most support, addresses the inequities in the current system and is right for the long term.’

“Our members are quite rightly asking what has changed. Revisiting this deal so quickly after it was signed raises doubts about whether public servants can trust this government to keep a promise.

“The absence of data and analysis in the Cabinet Office consultation document to back up its assertions is shocking. The Treasury consultation paper issued on 5 February has just one data source. The government’s documents are thin on evidence but heavy on prejudice.”

As Deputy General Secretary Garry Graham puts it:

".. the government has shown its disdain for those who have served the public so loyally,”

Quite.

If you have not yet joined Prospect you are cordially invited to do so by clicking on to the following link:

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Last week a friend of mine decided to "deactivate" his Facebook account for a while as he had "become disillusioned with politics". And with everything that's going on in the world his decision is quite understandable.

Every time I go to Facebook there is news of some atrocity committed by Islamist criminals, madness propagated by the Corbynistas and other assorted so called lefties and anti-imperialists. Even in universities both here in the UK and the United States there is a growing authoritarian trend to prevent free speech in the name of "safe spaces" where (certain types of) students can have their fragile egos protected from the fact that there are people out there who do not agree with ever barmier ideas.

More than that "safe spaces" seek to prevent others hearing alternative arguments and disagreements.
Can't have that in an institution of learning can we?

The fact is we have a government that has shown it's true face of going beyond "austerity" to implementing purely ideologically motivated policies. Nothing has been clearer than their decision to not nationalise British steel, the obvious solution that would be in the long term national interest.

Too busy courting the Chinese government who promptly slapped a huge levy on specialist steel which happens to come from....

I pointed this out on a certain Facebook forum but the irony was lost on another group of blinkered ideologues who now control the Labour Party.

We need rid of Cameron and his cronies as soon as possible. They may be slipping in the polls but it's not due to Corbyn and his followers gaining ground, the Tories failing has more to do with their botched and patently unjust budget. Robbing the sick to give to the rich.

Unacceptable and you'd think the opposition would be going for broke to bring down this government as soon as possible.

Unfortunately the Corbynistas are too busy preparing their pet policies on Trident and surrendering the Falkland Islands. That's not when they seek to blame the worlds ills on "Zios" or Zionists as they are obsessed with Israels destruction.

Hardly a week goes by without some dreadful individual coming to everyones attention because of the anti-Semitism. A party of hope containing people of hate. By the time these reprobates are suspended or kicked out the damage is already done.

The growing influence of the far-left in Labour is destroying the broad church that Labour needs to be to win an election and move forward. Their fundamentalism will not appeal to those voters that need to be won over to defeat the Tories. The 1% lead in the polls hides the real fact Labour is not in a position to win any general election in the near future.

As for Scotland? Forget it. There is a possibility Labour could now come third.

Then there's the forthcoming local and Mayoral elections.

Some of my friends do not understand why I am so reticent to support Sadiq Khan. His judgement is quite flawed, he was one of the idiot MPs who nominated the student-like Jeremy Corbyn for leader despite not wanting him as leader.

That was well thought out eh!

The far-left, the majority of whom do not belong to any organisation have either come out of the woodwork or entered the Labour Party to make mischief having failed with every other project they've tried.

A prime example of this is the vainglorious General Secretary of the PCS Union, Mark Serwotka who has joined Labour after a decade or more of trying to undermine it (thereby helping the Tories win) to help "purge".

You only have to look at the recent history of his near bankrupt union to see how badly he has fared. An anti austerity union that forced through such bad cuts it's own staff were left with a pension deal worse than the one he rejected for PCS members. Go figure.

That brings me neatly back to Facebook where I have decided to block one of Serwotka's acolytes because his boorish attitude. And it was just over a year ago the PCS Facebook page itself that finally made me realise there was no hope for that far-left controlled union.

So I left and have never looked back.

There are huge dangers ahead. My experience of PCS made me hesitate and decide not to join the Labour Party for the time being. It will be back to the same old battles, same old arguments with the same types of tired old Trots and their allies who care not one jot about ordinary people but always put their ideology and desire for political control first.

However I cannot totally stand aside and since neither blogging or Facebook is enough, my choice was clear. I have become active in the trade union movement again.

Prospect may be a smaller union, but has none of the baggage that wrecked PCS. From here I can make a (albeit small) contribution to fight for our rights.

I'm sure my friend will return to Facebook in due course, but taking a break isn't such a bad thing. I wasn't ready until now.

Friday, 1 April 2016

It's the weekend and the first day of April. I had considered running an April Fools post today but never got around to it before midday, so could't proceed. Never mind there's always next year!

I also don't feel inclined to have a rant about some of world's ills tonight having just watched a movie, so I thought I'd start the month off with a nice little number from the Japanese band Baby Metal.

These girls have quite a following in their home country and have performed over here.